Sunday Service from Connexion for November 19th 2023:
Sunday Service from Hillside Circuit for November 19th 2023:
Lectionary Theme: The Day of the Lord is near.
Occasion: 3rd before Christmas
Lectionary readings:
Psalm 123
Zephaniah 1: 7, 12-18
1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11
Matthew 25: 14-30
[Click or tap on a Bible reference above to jump down the page to the Bible reading to read it for yourself and then click or tap on Back to top to come back here.]
Songs:
Here are the songs for Sunday morning service. Click or tap on a song to open it in YouTube.
Come, now is the time.
These are the days.
Great is the darkness.
Bless the Lord (10,000 reasons).
There is a Redeemer.
King of the ages.
Mine eyes have seen.
It is well with my soul.
Lord have mercy.
You can listen and join in with prayers from the English Methodist Service Book. They can be found at the Prayers for worship webpage.
Children’s Address:
Sermon:
Bible readings:
Psalm 123
1 Our LORD and our God,
I turn my eyes to you, on your throne in heaven.
2 Servants look to their master, but we will look to you,
until you have mercy on us.
3 Please have mercy, LORD!
We have been insulted more than we can stand,
4 and we can’t take more abuse
from those proud, conceited people.
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Zephaniah 1
7 Be silent! I am the LORD God, and the time is near.
I am preparing to sacrifice my people
and to invite my guests.
12 I’ll search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those people
who sit there unworried while thinking,
“The LORD won’t do anything, good or bad.”
13 Their possessions will be taken, their homes left in ruins.
They won’t get to live in the houses they build,
or drink wine from the grapes in their own vineyards.
14 The great day of the LORD is coming soon, very soon.
On that terrible day, fearsome shouts of warriors
will be heard everywhere.
15 It will be a time of anger
of trouble and torment, of disaster and destruction,
of darkness and despair, of storm clouds and shadows,
16 of trumpet calls and battle cries
against fortified cities and mighty fortresses.
17 The LORD warns everyone who has sinned against him,
“I’ll strike you blind!
Then your blood and your insides
will gush out like vomit.
18 Not even your silver or gold can save you on that day
when I, the LORD, am angry.
My anger will flare up like a furious fire
scorching the earth and everyone on it.”
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1 Thessalonians 5
1 I don’t need to write you about the time or date when all this will happen. 2 You surely know that the LORD’S return will be as a thief coming at night. 3 People will think they are safe and secure. But destruction will suddenly strike them like the pains of a woman about to give birth. And they won’t escape.
4 My dear friends, you don’t live in darkness, and so that day won’t surprise you like a thief. 5 You belong to the light and live in the day. We don’t live in the night or belong to the dark. 6 Others may sleep, but we should stay awake and be alert. 7 People sleep during the night, and some even get drunk. 8 But we belong to the day. So we must stay sober and let our faith and love be like a suit of armour. Our firm hope that we will be saved is our helmet.
9 God doesn’t intend to punish us, but to have our Lord Jesus Christ save us. 10 Christ died for us, so that we could live with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. 11 That’s why you must encourage and help each other, just as you are already doing.
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Matthew 25
14 The kingdom is also like what happened when a man went away and put his three servants in charge of all he owned. 15 The man knew what each servant could do. So he handed five thousand coins to the first servant, two thousand to the second, and one thousand to the third. Then he left the country.
16 As soon as the man had gone, the servant with the five thousand coins used them to earn five thousand more. 17 The servant who had two thousand coins did the same with his money and earned two thousand more. 18 But the servant with one thousand coins dug a hole and hid his master’s money in the ground.
19 Some time later the master of those servants returned. He called them in and asked what they had done with his money. 20 The servant who had been given five thousand coins brought them in with the five thousand that he had earned. He said, “Sir, you gave me five thousand coins, and I have earned five thousand more.”
21 “Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”
22 Next, the servant who had been given two thousand coins came in and said, “Sir, you gave me two thousand coins, and I have earned two thousand more.”
23 “Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”
24 The servant who had been given one thousand coins then came in and said, “Sir, I know that you are hard to get along with. You harvest what you don’t plant and gather crops where you haven’t scattered seed. 25 I was frightened and went out and hid your money in the ground. Here is every single coin!”
26 The master of the servant told him, “You are lazy and good-for-nothing! You know that I harvest what I don’t plant and gather crops where I haven’t scattered seed. 27 You could have at least put my money in the bank, so that I could have earned interest on it.”
28 Then the master said, “Now your money will be taken away and given to the servant with ten thousand coins! 29 Everyone who has something will be given more, and they will have more than enough. But everything will be taken from those who don’t have anything. 30 You are a worthless servant, and you will be thrown out into the dark where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain.”
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[Did you miss last week’s Sunday Services? They can now be found at Worship Archive – November 12th 2023.]
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 
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